The other six people were injured while seeking to quell an uprising at the infamous criminal Guayas 1 in the southwestern port city of Guayaquil, police said on Twitter.
A member of SNAI’s criminal directorate who requested anonymity told AFP that police confronted detainees armed with firearms and explosives.
Ecuador, once a nonviolent neighbor of major cocaine manufacturers Colombia and Peru, has noted a wave of violent crime that the government blames on territorial disputes between gangs connected to Mexican cartels.
Civilians are caught up in the bloodshed that has claimed the lives of more than 60 police officers since last year.
Hundreds of inmates have died in Ecuador’s overcrowded prisons since February last year, many have been beheaded or burned as gang warfare also takes over the bars, specifically in Guayas 1.
Widespread corruption among guards detained for firearms and explosives, among other contraband.
Following Tuesday’s attacks that killed five police officers and one civilian, President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency and nighttime curfew in the western provinces of Guayas, of which Guayaquil is the capital, and Esmeraldas.
Teams armed with weapons, including car bombs, hit more than 18 goals in the two provinces, adding police and fuel facilities, a clinic — where a civilian was seriously injured — and a bus terminal.
Inmates at a facility in Esmeraldas also took 8 guards hostage on Tuesday to protest the movement of detainees, but later released them. In the same city on Monday, two headless bodies were discovered hanging from a pedestrian bridge.
Tuesday’s attacks are believed to be a reaction to a mass transfer of inmates from Guayas 1 prison, which is largely under gang control.
Clashes on Wednesday left two dead and six wounded.
Ecuador has evolved from a drug transit directorate in recent years to a distribution center in its own right.
The United States and Europe are the main destinations for Latin Americans.
Ecuador’s homicide rate nearly doubled in 2021 to 14 consisting of 100,000 people, and reached 18 consisting of 100,000 people between January and October of this year, according to official data.
In 2021, law enforcement seized a record 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine. So far, this year’s seizures total 160 tons.